Rose Mapel demonstrates how to make barn quilts at Nebraska State Fair, (Carol Bryant, Central Nebraska Today)
GRAND ISLAND – Rose Mapel of Cozad paints barn quilts, only they aren’t painted on barns.
Mapel paints the barn quilts on tile-sized squares of aluminum composite material.
Mapel was demonstrating her work Aug. 30 in the Visual Arts area at the Nebraska State Fair.
A barn quilt represents a single quilt block on a quilt. She puts masking tape on the aluminum composite material, paints over it, then peels off the masking tape to reveal the design for the barn quilt.
She said people who think they don’t have any artistic talent discover that they are successful at creating barn quilts.
“You don’t have to be an artist to paint a barn quilt, and you don’t have to have a barn to put it on.” She said that people can be as detailed with a barn quilt as they want to be.
She gives barn quilt classes all over the state and also does murals.
Mapel is on the Nebraska Arts Council roster of Artists. She has a studio in Eustis.
She is part of the Haymaker Creative District in Cozad and was on its steering committee when it started.
Mapel is also a freelance artist. She said she has an impressionist flair. She takes photographs, likes to paint with acrylic, does textile art, and makes jewelry.
She said she started doing workshops on how to create barn quilts in 2017.
Her studio in Eustis is in a building that used to be a lumberyard. Mapel remodeled the building. She offers studio workshops in Eustis.
She has written two books: “The Complete Barn Quilt Creation and Painting Guide” and “The True Story of Peanut.”
Mapel started her business in 2017.
Her website is www.artisticinnovationsne.com. People can sign up for a seasonal newsletter, a class or buy supplies on the website. Mapel also has a Facebook page “Artistic Innovations NE” and a presence on YouTube.
Mapel is giving a barn quilt workshop titled “Multi Size Option Barn Quilt” Sept. 26 at Central Community College in Grand Island. Classes can be set up by request if the person has a minimum of 10 people who would participate in the class.
